The State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili met with the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Lamberto Zannier.

The State Minister informed the High Commissioner on the situation of ethnic minorities and introduced the State policy on their rights. She talked about the current progress and challenges.    

"I thank the Commissioner for having planned to visit Abkhazia. He will see the existing situation with his own eyes. We spoke in details about the occupied territories, as well as challenges in Georgia. Including the ethnic Georgian population, who are particularly vulnerable and discriminatory in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region.

"We are open to cooperation in the future as we have an ambition to be effective in the direction of civil integration. Our diversity is our riches and civil integration in this diversity is a totally achievable task. One of the main tasks, of course, is to improve the level of knowledge of the state language in the regions compacted by ethnic minorities, because this is one of the hindering factors", - said Ketevan Tsikhelashvili.

At the end of the meeting, the State Minister thanked the High Commissioner for fruitful cooperation and noted that it is important that the Commissioner's Office expresses its support to the Georgia's integration process.